1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the invention relate generally to digital communication networks, and more particularly to association of digital communication network customers with a network signaling tunnel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Internet has become a well-known and readily-accepted source of a plethora of information, from simple written documents and photographic images, to various forms of multimedia, for government, commercial, and retail customers alike. In addition, the Internet has more recently held the promise of real-time voice communication, the use of which may be less expensive than the typical phone service provided by a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
However, PSTNs, by virtue of providing phone service for many decades, have already generated well-tested solutions to various challenges inherent in voice communication services. Many of these challenges are not associated with the delivery of the service itself, but instead involve more peripherally-oriented tasks, such as billing and security. Accordingly, Internet-based voice communication networks, such as those employing Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), may lag behind PSTNs in providing such functionality in a robust manner due to the corresponding technology being relatively new.
For example, with respect to billing large customers, PSTNs normally acquire information from switches within the network to determine which customer is to be billed, and for what amount, for each phone call utilizing the network. FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a portion of a PSTN 1 employing a switch 2 for switching multiple time-domain-multiplexed (TDM) trunk groups 4 connected to customers 6a, 6b and 6c onto the remainder of the PSTN 1. Also, a billing system 8 is coupled with the switch 2, as well as other switches and components of the PSTN 1, to gather information regarding the phone calls passing through the PSTN 1 to generate bills for phone service usage. Typically, since each of the customers 6 may be associated with one or more of the trunk groups 4, which serve as bearer channels for the actual voice data being transmitted across the PSTN 1, the billing system 8 may identify each customer 6 by way of information from the switch 2 indicating the identity of the switch 2 and the trunk group 4 carrying the particular call or group of calls to be billed. Also, the switch 2 may supply a duration of the call to allow the billing system 8 to determine how much to bill the customer 6.
Identifying a large customer by way of circuit connections is a somewhat natural consequence of PSTNs employing circuit-switching to connect one customer to another. However, due to the general packet-switching nature of the Internet, however, other methods that provide efficient and secure billing processes are likely required. In addition, various security threats, such as theft of service, IP address spoofing, and other techniques closely associated with the Internet, impart additional incentive to provide secure billing and similar functions associated with Internet phone service.